FTOPS XII - Mercier and Boyd Victories Featured in Events 17-24

By Jennifer Newell
The last of the tournaments of the twelfth installment of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series leading up to the main event consisted of Events 17 through 24 and included everything from rebuys to PLO heads-up to razz. It was a plethora of poker for the online fan.
Exactly half of this set of eight tournaments found enough entrants to surpass their guarantees, while the other half offered overlays to the players. And three of the events found well-known players in the winner’s circles - Dutch Boyd, Jason Mercier, and Travis Rice. Already in this series, Gavin Smith and Berry Johnston took down tournaments, which leads to the summation that FTOPS XII has been dominated by the professional contingent.
For now, let’s take a look at the final table players and statistics from the last eight events that took place just before the main event on Sunday, May 17.
Event 17: $300 + $22 NLHE 6-max w/rebuys
Who better to host a fast-paced rebuy tournament than a CardRunners trainer and Full Tilt pro by the name of Cole South? He was up for the task and watched as 951 players took part in the short-handed no-limit hold’em game. That number put the prize pool at $1,022,700, just past the $1 million guarantee. Famous online pro Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet made it to the final table, but in the end U_2Good4_Me was just too good, beating out stevie444 for the FTOPS title and more than $213K in prize money.
1st place: U_2Good4_Me ($213,232.95)
2nd place: stevie444 ($142,155.30)
3rd place: mralan2950 ($101,247.30)
4th place: machinegunian ($75,679.80)
5th place: MFPlayer1 ($54,203.10)
6th place: apestyles ($34,771.80)
Event 18: $200 + $16 PLO Heads-Up
One of the youngest pros in the Full Tilt family, Mike McDonald, took to the hosting duties for the pot-limit Omaha heads-up matches. A total of 672 players signed up for the challenge, though that was not enough to meet the guarantee of $150K, which kicked in for the prize pool. The very last of the challenges saw RealMonies win over mazoman10 to collect $30K in cash for the victory.
1st place: RealMonies ($30,000)
2nd place: mazoman10 ($17,550)
3rd place: doughy1986 ($9,375)
4th place: xxxCelticFCxxx ($9,375)
Event 19: $300 + $22 Razz
Razz always brings an interesting group of players to the table, typically pros who like to mix up their games with a bit of razz but sometimes with some amateurs added who are looking to see what all of the fuss is about. Veteran player Artie Cobb hosted the duties as 482 players came out for the $150K guarantee, which ended up becoming the total prize pool. Full Tilt pro Scott Fischman found himself with another deep FTOPS run, this time resulting in a 12th place finish, but it was Dutch Boyd who beat out oiltrader for the ultimate victory and $35,550 payday.
1st place: Dutchalicious ($35,550)
2nd place: oiltrader ($23,550)
3rd place: Adar ($16,500)
4th place: HateMeLongTime ($10,200)
5th place: TYGOP ($6,300)
6th place: SoftCloud ($4,350)
7th place: theseed05 ($3,300)
8th place: Crisp86 ($2,250)
Event 20: $200 + $16 NLHE
The straight-up no-limit hold’em event was one hosted by Fabrice Soulier and saw 2,206 players come to the virtual felt. The $441,200 resulting prize pool was one of the first to go well beyond the guarantee, which in this case was $400K. When all was said and done, however, Spinvis took control of the heads-up portion of the tournament and defeated TheKoalabear to claim nearly $90K in prize money for the win.
1st place: Spinvis ($89,982.74)
2nd place: TheKoalabear ($58,238.40)
3rd place: asdf_ms ($43,237.60)
4th place: DoN_Hersir ($32,648.80)
5th place: bonya37 ($22,942.40)
6th place: cmis91 ($15,000.80)
7th place: ADED ($10,147.60)
8th place: Peta_Pan69 ($7,059.20)
9th place: Vil-Fish ($5,294.40)
Event 21: $200 + $16 Mixed Hold’em 6-max
High stakes cash game player and Full Tilt pro Eli Elezra hosted the mixed hold’em short-handed action, which attracted 983 players. The higher-than-anticipated turnout brought the prize pool to $196,600, well past the $150K guarantee originally set for the event. The last two players standing were Roxx Box and BrightGreenPoop, the former who won the game and took home nearly $41K for the effort.
1st place: Roxx Box ($40,991.10)
2nd place: BrightGreenPoop ($27,327.40)
3rd place: eatschips ($19,463.40)
4th place: UbetIraiseUfold ($14,548.40)
5th place: __KASSIN__ ($10,419.80)
6th place: DYSHANBE ($6,684.40)
Event 22: $2,500 + $120 NLHE (2-day event)
This was the last of the straight no-limit hold’em tournaments, and the high buy-in was meant to give players at those stakes a special opportunity to compete in this two-day event. With a $2 million guarantee, 795 players came to the tables for it, which caused Full Tilt to kick in with that guarantee as the prize pool. Team Full Tilt member Patrik Antonius served as the host while players competed for more than one million at the final table alone. Ultimately, it was pro player Travis “TravestyFund” Rice who claimed victory and took what would be the biggest prize of FTOPS XII - $460K.
1st place: TravestyFund ($460,000)
2nd place: Claws of Gix ($290,000)
3rd place: BickleAce ($215,000)
4th place: GnightMoon ($165,000)
5th place: CiegoBoY ($125,000)
6th place: marlin5555 ($90,000)
7th place: pzyclone ($60,000)
8th place: HaiducF ($46,800)
9th place: phat_cat1 ($34,000)
Event 23: $100 + $9 PLO w/rebuys
Pot-limit Omaha attracts more people each year, and adding rebuys to the mix brings players who crave a lot of action. A total of 1,031 players were up for the challenge, which took the prize pool past the $350K guarantee to $384,900. With Robert Williamson III overseeing the action, he had a big one on his hands as a number of pros went deep in this event. Scott Fischman again came close with a 16th place finish, but the final table saw big Full Tilt names like Stuart Paterson cash in seventh and Bill Gazes finish in fourth. Ultimately, though, it was Jason “treysfull21” Mercier who won the tournament and took home more than $86K for beating quite the tough field.
1st place: treysfull21 ($86,602.50)
2nd place: RMFG ($54,848.25)
3rd place: mozgoved82 ($40,606.95)
4th place: Bill Gazes ($31,754.25)
5th place: davxlm ($24,056.25)
6th place: Sapster ($17,320.50)
7th place: Stuart Paterson ($11,547.00)
8th place: Rightcurver ($8,660.25)
Event 24: $120 + $9 NLHE knockout
The last of the tournaments before the main event was one that many players could afford with a $129 buy-in. A whopping 8,280 players registered for the knockout event, though that wasn’t enough to cover the $1 million guarantee, which was thrown in as the prize pool by Full Tilt. Svetlana Gromenkova hosted the action, which resulted in AAAPOKRDONKY defeating Chances Cards to take home nearly $160K in first place prize money.
1st place: AAAPOKRDONKY ($159,900)
2nd place: Chances Cards ($100,000)
3rd place: vedder1980 ($60,000)
4th place: Jedi AllStar ($45,000)
5th place: 1__MCMK__1 ($35,000)
6th place: GinsasH ($27,000)
7th place: Asiandude7 ($20,000)
8th place: IDOLLS ($15,000)
9th place: bob2bob ($11,000)
With that, the $535 NLHE main event was on tap for Sunday, May 17. A recap of that action is forthcoming.